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Sister Nelson - Company and the Museum of the Bible

Dear Family,

I think I am finally writing about the week I have just finished!?! Life is racing by and I am getting some of the things that are needful done—not always on the organized schedule that I had planned, but life does go on even if I’m a little behind.

We had a good Sunday, but I think that I put it in last week’s letter. It was a little late by the time we got home and I was tired so decided to wait until Monday to make the cookie sheet of brownies that I needed to do for the “Return and Report” meeting on Tuesday.

Monday we got up early so we could get to the office a little early in hopes of getting home a little earlier to be able to spend more time with Uncle Phil, Aunt Jane, and Aunt Janie. We had a quick dinner and then figured I’d better get the brownies done. I had thought about cocoa on Saturday, but was sure I had some at home, so didn’t buy more. When I went looking for the cocoa, I couldn’t find any so had to make a trip to the store to get some. That made the making process a little longer. Then, when it came time to make the frosting, I broke my hand mixer—the frosting was too thick—and Dad had to finish mixing the frosting. Hopefully the brownies tasted better than all of the set backs in the making of them.

Tuesday we went into the office to get a few things done before we went to set up for the luncheon. We decided to have taco salad with all of the toppings along with brownies and ice cream. When we watched the first missionaries go through the line and pile their plates so high, we knew we might have trouble. We even had some of the missionaries come back through the line before all of the missionaries had a first chance. We have decided that we can’t just keep increasing the amount of food we make because they just keep eating more; we will have to start serving the food and/or get smaller plates. Some of the filled plates I watched going by I felt like asking if they needed help carrying the plate. At least we knew they liked the food. I got a ride back to the office with one of the other senior couples because Dad had to take some missionaries home because they are on bikes and it was too far to ride their bikes. It is hard to get back into the swing of doing office work after being out doing other things. We left the office about 5:30 and got home and fixed left over soup for everyone. It was a wee bit cold, so the soup worked out well. We watched the video Keri and McKay had made of Grandma Nelson answering questions about her life and Uncle Phil and Aunt Jane enjoyed that.

Wednesday was another day at the office and it was a little longer than we wanted. Our guests went hiking and then went to meet with Larry Wilson and his wife for lunch. They knew him when he lived in Uncle Phil and Aunt Janie’s ward in Walnut Creek before he became a General Authority Seventy. He was released this last October and moved back here to be close to their children. It is a little world having him grow up in my ward as a youth and Uncle Terry and Don being his scout leaders and then Uncle Phil knowing him later in life. By the time we got home no one wanted to wait for dinner to be prepared, so they took us out to dinner at CafĂ© Rio. When we got home we talked them into playing a couple of hands of “coup” before we called it a night and went to bed.

Thursday was Happy 14th Birthday for Emma!! It’s hard to believe that she that old, but she is really is becoming a beautiful young woman. The best part is that she is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.

We went into the office and our company went to Mount Vernon. They had only planned to get back early, but they didn’t get back until 6:30. They really enjoyed the house and grounds, the distillery, and the gristmill and there was just more to see than they had figured.

Friday morning I left the house at 7:15 for the stake center with one of the senior sisters who lives in our complex to get the sack lunches ready for the missionaries. We were having a mini mission tour with Elder Bennet. We had to get a little more than 200 lunches put together. Dad was going to come down at 9 to listen to the conference with me, but when he got here he found that the AP’s had not known that they were to have the lapel microphone—the office elders used to do that. The area presidency doesn’t want us to have office elders, so they don’t set up the meetings now and we are still working out the crinks. Dad called the senior couple who were watching the office and asked them to bring the mike and he would go back and watch the office. That way we could get the mike there faster, but Dad missed the meeting. After feeding the morning set of missionaries, we went back to watch the office. I had to work on funding the missionaries and then we went and read the Book of Mormon with Nancy. I don’t know if she will ever join the church, but at least she has good feelings when we read with her and she knows that we care for her.

We went home and Aunt Jane had decided that we should have pizza for dinner and I was okay with that. No cooking!

Saturday we got up and Dad and Uncle Phil went for a walk down in our little woods. I got ready for the baptism and made lunches for the day. Dad came home and did a miracle getting ready routine. While we were at the baptism, Uncle Phil, Aunt Janie, and Aunt Jane went to the farmers market down at the train station parking lot. After the baptism we met them at a church just across the Potomac from Washington DC and drove over to the Museum of the Bible. There are 7 floors and we were able to see about 3 ½ floors in about 5 hours. There was one floor that had made paintings in the early centuries that were used to tell the people about what was in the Bible. They couldn’t read and didn’t have copies of the Bible, so painters told the stories in paintings. Another floor had movies and interactive things to teach the stories of the Old Testament and New Testament. We even got to walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. It was not preachy, just informative. Another floor told of all of the work and sacrifice many of the early reformers went through to translate the Bible into languages so that the common people could read the Bible for themselves. It was very interesting.

We came home and had halupsi and everyone enjoyed it. Dad and I were the only ones who had had it before.

Today our company got up and packed up and left by about 9:30. Now we don’t have anyone to play with any more. I guess that we will have to get ready to come and play with you in Utah. We are SO excited to see everyone.

We love you lots,
Mom

Garn and Me at the Museum of the Bible

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